Figurative Language
Hyperbole
"At that time Bogota was a remote, lugubrious city where an insomniac rain has been falling since the beginning of the 16th century." -Living to Tell the Tale, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Meiosis
"Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch." -Mercutio after he is mortally wounded by Tybalt -Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare
Personification
"Because I could not stop for Death - He kindly stopped for me - The Carriage held but just Ourselves - And Immortality." - "Because I could not stop for Death," Emily Dickinson
Alliteration
"Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before" - "The Raven," Edgar Allan Poe
Simile
"In the eastern s y there was a yellow patch like a rug laid for the feet of the coming sun . . ." - "The Red Badge of Courage," Stephen Crane 176
Onomatopoeia
"Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells— From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells." -"The Bells," Edgar Allan Poe
Idiom
"Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail." -A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
Imagery
"Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft, And gathering swallows twitter in the skies." -"To Autumn," John Keats
Metaphor
"Our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind." -Sand and Foam, Khalil Gibran
Allusion
"The morning wind forever blows, the poem of creation is uninterrupted; but few are the ears that hear it. Olympus is but the outside of the earth everywhere." -Walden, Henry David Thoreau
Allusion
A brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance.
Metaphor
A word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that they are similar
Alliteration
The repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables
Simile
a comparison of two unlike things, often introduced by like or as
Idiom
an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its separate words but must be learned as a whole
Hyperbole
exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.
Personification
representing a thing or idea as a person in art, literature
Onomatopoeia
the forming of a word (as "buzz" or "hiss") in imitation of a natural sound
Meiosis
the presentation of a thing with under-emphasis especially in order to achieve a greater effect; understatement
Imagery
writing about objects, actions, and ideas such a way that it appeals to our five physical senses
